By The Light of the Moon
by RonaldAndMione
Summary: Hermione wakes up in the middle of the night at Shell Cottage. She and Ron have a conversation in the darkness. Rated T for some language.


**Hi everybody :)**

**It's been a little while, but I thought I shouldn't post too often, otherwise you'd get sick of me. :P I've been writing though, and I have a few stories to put up, so over the next few weeks/months they'll be coming up slowly.**

**This story is in the second person, which is something I haven't done before. It was pretty difficult, I kept slipping to third person accidentally, but I think it's alright now. I've also finished a story in first person - and I dont usually like first person. You'll see it when I put it up.**

**For now, I hope you enjoy this story which tells of the first night at Shell Cottage - By the Light of the Moon.**

Your eyes open, and you can't see anything. All around you is darkness – it must be night. Fear rushes through you. You try to sit up, but you feel a sudden pain in your chest, and moan as a result of it.

"Hermione?" you hear, and the voice is so familiar. Panic is evident in the voice, but you don't worry. You know who that voice belongs to, and you're immediately calm. His voice has that ability – there's something in the deep, low rumble of his that is so reassuring. You know everything's alright, because he'll never let anything hurt you.

"Ron?" you whisper. You start to remember where you are, and you know Luna is in her bed on the other side of the room. You don't want to wake her. You're perfectly happy conversing with Ron in a hushed voice – there's something thrilling and exciting about it.

"Shh," he whispers soothingly. You feel his gentle touch as he strokes your hair softly.

"What are you doing here?" you ask.

"Couldn't sleep, so I came to check on you." Even in the dark of the night, you can tell he's got that nervous smile on his now red face.

You smile along with him. "How long have you been here?"

"Dunno." He says, and you smile at the familiarity of that. He's been saying that for years, and it's nice to hear something so… _normal_… after such a long time. "Half an hour, give or take."

"What about your rest?" you ask, because you know he needs it.

"I can't." He replies immediately, and now you're worried. He sounds… scared… genuinely scared. Before you can ask him what's wrong, he clarifies. "The dreams… I just keep going back to that god-damn cellar… I keep reliving that time… you were being bloody tortured, and I couldn't help you!" His voice begins to rise up, and at this point, he realises this and lowers it down again. "… All I could do was just stand there and listen to your screams…" He breaks off, and you know he's struggling to fight back tears.

"It's okay," you whisper – because it is, or at least, as close as it can be to 'okay' in a war. At the moment, you're safe, everything's calm and quiet. You need to reassure him that he doesn't have to remain strong for you right now – he's your hero, but there's a point where a hero needs a hero of his own. She plans to be just that for Ron.

"Hermione, I… you have to know… I… I was so _scared_…" he breathes out the word. You can faintly see his outline. At this point you've accustomed to the darkness, and you can just make out a glistening tear on his face.

"It's okay," you repeat.

"No, it's not." He says firmly. "You were so close to just… just dying!" He exclaims, and you whisper a gentle "Shh." You see the outline of his head turning, and you know he's looking over at the other person in this room. Luna is still sleeping serenely. "You were so close…" he whispers fearfully, and you begin to see just how close you really were. "Maybe you wouldn't have died," he says, but he does not sound too happy about that, and you know he has more to say. "Maybe, you would have been handed over to that effing werewolf… you almost were." He says in a low voice.

"But I wasn't," you say, and you feel like tonight, things are different. It used to be the other way around – you were always worried about the what-ifs, the maybes, and Ron would always tell you that what's done is done. Now, you've taken his role, and he's taken yours. "I wasn't, and you just have to remember that. It's all over now." You reach out and grasp his hand. You smooth your thumb over the calloused skin, and stroke his knuckles soothingly. He continues to caress your hair.

"This doesn't mean I'll be able to sleep." He says.

You look away from him, even though you know he can barely see you anyway. "I've had those dreams tonight too." You admit.

You can tell he nodded. "Yeah, Fleur said you would… I was so scared about that. That's why I came down here when I couldn't sleep. I wanted to see if you were alright."

You allow what he said to sink in. Tonight, you really realised that he cared for you. After he left you, you hadn't been so sure anymore, but tonight he proved himself.

You continue caressing each other, just appreciating that the other's alive, that you've made it this far. He smells like coconut, and you can tell he's had a shower. You blush slightly as you receive a mental image of that. Trying to ignore this, you decide that you'll have a shower tomorrow.

"I keep seeing her face." You whisper softly, breaking the silence. "Every time I close my eyes, I see her face… I see her mouth forming the word… she looks happy to see me like that…"

Ron's hand stops moving, and is resting on the top of your head. You blush furiously, aware that he is watching you, concentrating on you.

"She'll pay." Ron tells you, determination mixed with anger in his voice. "I swear, she will pay."

You look up at him, and the moon is in such a position which enables you to see Ron's eyes. You can see how much he means what he's said. You're almost afraid at how determined he looks. "Don't do anything you'll regret." you warn.

He shakes his head. "I won't." You know he means he won't regret making her pay, and you wonder how far he'll go.

"I don't want you to become a killer." You say honestly.

"It's a war, Hermione… we're probably going to have to." He says. Before you can become truly afraid, he calms you. "Don't worry, I don't want to become a killer either." He tells you. You smile up at him, feeling relieved.

He's resumed stroking your hair, and you settle back into the pillows, shifting your head gently to get into a better position. "Hermione, you should know, though…" you hear him take a deep breath, and you watch as his chest moves in time, "You should know that I would kill for you. I would."

You smile at him, tears in your eyes at the sincerity you hear. "I would do the same for you, Ron." She says.

Ron nods, a small smile on his face. "I hope you won't have to though."

"Same, but I want you to know that I would."

"Same here." He says. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you, not anymore."

You frown. "You didn't let anyone hurt me, Ron."

"Yes, I did!" Ron exclaims, and you hear the anger in his voice. "I let them take you!"

"You stood up for me, Ron." You say, remembering when he had valiantly pleaded for them to take him instead.

"I should have tried harder!" he says. "I should have fought harder… I should have stopped them! I should have _died_ before letting them take you!"

"Ron, stop it." You say, and you feel anger towards his self-bashing. "You saved me. You may not think that, but you did. I would have given in so easily, so soon, if it weren't for you. Hearing you call out for me, letting me know you were still there… it stopped me… you saved me."

He's silent for a moment, and when he finally speaks, his voice is quivering. "They still hurt you though."

"They did." You tell him – it's the truth. "You wouldn't have stopped that. If you'd died," you pause as you try to imagine that – and then decide you don't particularly want to imagine that, "they would have still hurt me, and then, you wouldn't have saved me after."

By the light of the moon, you see a small smile on his face, and know that the argument has ended. "I guess you're right." He admits, and you smile. "I think you should head back to sleep."

"I'm scared." You blurt out, and the smile on Ron's face fades away.

"Don't be." He finally says. He turns his body so that his head is leaning against the headboard, and the hand that was resting on your head moves around her neck and shoulder. "Don't be scared," he repeats, and you close your eyes, no longer afraid.

Just as you drift off to sleep, you hear him whisper two more words – "I'm here."

**I'd love a review :)**

**P.S - Who else loved DHP2? The R/H kiss was so sweet :)**


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